IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Hiotographic 
_Sdences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MSeO 

(716)  S7^4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/iCIViH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notas  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha  Instituta  haa  anamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
raproduction.  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


□    Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


r~~\   Covers  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagia 


nCovars  raatorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raatauria  at/ou  palliculAa 

□    Covar  titia  missing/ 
La  titra  da  couvartura  manqua 

□    Colourad  mapa/ 
Cartas  gtegraphiquaa  mn  coulaur 


D 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Colourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  bSua  or  black)/ 
Encra  da  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  noirol 


|~n   Colourad  plataa  and/or  illuatrations/ 


Planchaa  at/ou  illustratlona  ix  coulaur 


Bound  with  othar  matarial/ 
Ralii  avac  d'autraa  documants 


Tight  binding  may  causa  shadowa  or  distortion 
along  intarior  mcrgin/ 

La  r0  liura  sarrte  paut  cauanr  da  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
distorslon  la  long  da  la  marga  intiriaura 

Blank  laavas  addad  during  rastoration  may 
appaar  within  tha  taxt.  Whanavar  possibla.  thasa 
hava  baan  omittad  from  filming/ 
II  sa  paut  qua  cartainaa  pagaa  blanches  ajoutias 
lors  d'una  raatauration  apparaissant  dana  la  taxta, 
mais.  lorsqua  cala  Atait  poaaibla.  cas  pagaa  n'ont 
paa  «t«  filmias. 

Additional  commants:/ 
Commantairas  supplAmantairas: 


L'Instltut  a  microfilm*  la  maiilaur  axamplaira 
qu'il  iui  a  iti  possibla  da  sa  procurer.  Las  details 
da  cat  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographiqua.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
un«  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dana  ia  mAthoda  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


Tha< 
toth 


nn   Coloured  pagaa/ 


D 


D 


This  item  Is  filmed  at  thr  reduction  ratio  che.osd  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  rMuction  int1iqui&  ci-dessous. 


Pagaa  da  coulaur 

Pagaa  damaged/ 
Pagaa  andommagtea 


□   Pagaa  raatorad  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurAaa  at/ou  peilicuiies 


Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


Pages  dicoiortes.  tachet^es  ou  piquies 

Pages  detached/ 
P^ges  ditachias 


Showthrough/ 
ill   Tranaparance 


pn   Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Qualiti  inigala  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprand  du  matiriel  supplAmentaira 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


Pagaa  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refiimed  M 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totalement  ou  partiallement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuiilet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  M  filmtes  A  nouveau  de  fapon  i 
obtenir  la  mailleure  image  possible. 


Thai 
posai 
ofth 
filmii 


Origi 

bagii 

tha 

sion, 

othai 

first 

sion, 

or  illi 


Tha 
shall 
TINL 
whic 

Map! 
diffa 
entir 
begii 
right 
requi 
math 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

J 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  filmed  here  het  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Douglas  Library 
Queen's  University 


L'exemplaire  filmA  f ut  reproduit  grice  A  la 
gAntrosit*  de: 

Douglas  Library 
Queen's  University 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  Iceeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Las  Images  sulvantes  ont  AtA  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettet*  de  rexemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fllmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  bacic  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  Impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  origlnaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimis  sent  filmAs  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  s'oit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
origlnaux  sent  filmis  en  commenpant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iilustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —»>(  meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  seion  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
fllmfo  6  des  taux  de  riduction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  ciichi,  11  est  film*  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  has,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'Images  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mithode. 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

AM 


APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE 


ON  THE 


CAUSES  AND  CONSEaUENCES 


:«^ 


ov 


.^ 


iVAIt  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


u^ 


:.^'    V 


BOSTON  : 

PRINTrn    BY   T.  B.  WAIT    AND    COMPANY 
1811. 


EiiSi.  h^ 


! 


1.4 
I 


; 

"7 


APPEAL  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 


I  KNOW  it  is  a  thankless  office  to  warn  my  country- 
men of  impending  evils.  An  honest  developement  of 
their  causes  and  consequences  is  likely  to  be  received 
with  distrust  or  impatience  ; — to  be  resisted  or  evaded 
by  the  feelings  of  present  interest,  by  self-love,  by  va- 
nity, by  groundless  hopes,  and  idle  wishes.  Anxiety 
and  fear  are  troublesome  companions — if  they  cannot 
be  put  to  silence,  they  must  be  dismissed.  As  I  can- 
not minister  to  the  appetite  for  incredible  rumours,  I 
feel  that  I  am  an  unwelcome  messenger;  for  I  am 
as  utterly  ignorant  of  the  progress  of  negotiation  at 
Washington,  as  I  am  sure  of  its  fruitless  termination. 

I  am  fully  aware,  that  there  is  a  reluctance  in  the 
human  mind,  to  admit  truths  which  interfere  with  pre- 
sent pursuits  or  interests,  which  perplex  the  calcula- 
tions of  prudence,  and  demand  exertion  to  prevent  or 
mitigate  calamity.  Men  borrow  confidence  from  their 
hopes,  and  resist  conviction  as  they  would  an  enemy. 
He  then  who  disturbs  their  treacherous  repose,  their 
delusive  dreams  of  safety,  by  shewing  them  the  giant 
form  of  danger,  is  regarded  as  an  intruder,  if  lie  is  not 
assailed  as  a  foe. 


176011 


These  considerations,  so  inauspicious  to  my  hopes, 
shall  not  deter  me  from  the  honest  discharge  of  what  I 
deem  to  be  a  duty.  And  could  I  discern  in  the  pub- 
lie  mind,  a  willingness  to  iix  its  attention  upon  the 
causes  which  have  brought  the  country  to  its  present 
critical  state,  I  should  not  altogether  despair  of  its 
fortunes.  A  general  conviction  of  the  dangers  which 
threaten  its  peace  and  liberties,  would  give  energy 
enough  to  public  opinion  to  prevent  the  shock  of  a  Bri- 
tish war.  But  unless  more  just  opinions  prevail  among 
the  soundest  portion  of  the  community,  upon  the  cau- 
ses and  consequences  of  such  a  war ;  unless  the  pub- 
lic mind,  f^enerally,  can  be  touched  with  fear,  and  kin- 
died  into  activity,  war,  at  no  distant  period,  with  its 
long  train  of  evils,  must  come.  I  do  not  undertake  to 
prophesy  the  exact  time  of  this  event;  it  is  enough  to 
know  that  the  temper  and  policy  of  the  administration 
will  one  day  bring  it  to  pass  :  And  it  is  chiefly  owing 
to  a  spirit  of  forbearance,  growing  out  of  the  unexam- 
pled situation  of  Great  Britain,  that  we  are  not  now  at 
war  with  her,  and  fast  bound  to  the  destinies  of  France. 
That  spirit  of  hostility  in  the  administration  towards 
Great  Britain,  one  great  source  of  their  power,  as  well 
as  its  aliment,  which  gains  strength  by  an  association 
with  the  honest  prejudices  of  federalists ;  and  above 
all,  the  appaling  demands  of  France,  which  cannot  be 
resisted  without  the  sacrifice  of  the  feelings,  interests, 
and  power  of  a  party  ;  must  issue  in  a  British  war — 
an  unhallowed  war  to  us — without  the  sanction  of  jus- 
tice or  necessity  ;  which  Can  bring  no  glory  or  secu- 
rity with  it ;  but  which  must  involve  the  safety  of  the 
public  liberties  in  its  progress,  and  close  with  the  loss 
of  our  name  as  an  independent  nation. 


I 


' 


i 


Deeply  impressed  with  the  justness  of  these  senti- 
ments, and  indulging  a  faint  hope  that  I  may  find  **  fit 
audience,  though  few,"  I  propose  to  examine  the  pre- 
sent popular  grounds  of  complaint  against  Great  Bri- 
tain. These  I  shall  comprise  under  the  following 
heads  : — 

1.  I'he  impressment  of  our  seamen. 

2.  The  orders  in  council. 

These  embrace  the  principal  topics  of  complaint 
which  are  now  urged  by  the  administration,  and  seem 
to  limit  the  angry  declamations  of  its  supporters.  For 
since  France  has  settled  the  question  of  the  colonial 
trade,  it  is  no  longer  claimed  as  a  right  ;  since  the 
traffic  in  imperial  licences  is  publicly  driven  in  our 
great  cities,  little  is  heard  of  the  late  British  transit  du- 
ty ;  and  since  the  brilliant  achievement  of  the  frigate 
President,  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  has  ceased  to  in- 
terest the  public  feeling. 

It  is  often  repeated,  that  the  impressment  of  our 
seamen  is  justifiable  cause  of  war.  It  is  a  theme  full 
of  irritation,  and  leading  to  every  kind  of  misrepresen- 
tation. The  passions  of  men  are  so  easily  excited  on 
this  subject,  that  there  is  little  chance  for  candour  or 
argument  to  gain  a  hearing.  Indeed  there  is  little 
ground  for  reasoning  on  either  side,  for  the  question  of 
right  is  unusually  clear  of  doubt.  The  difficulties  are 
of  a  practical,  rather  than  of  an  abstract  sort,  arising 
partly  from  intrinsic,  and  paitly  from  artificial  causes. 
Mutual  good  temper,  liberal  and  enlightened  views 
only  are  necessary  to  dry  up  this  ever-flowing  fountain 
of  bitter  waters.  -^ 

In  all  treaties  between  nations,  as  there  are  conflict- 
ing rights  and  interests,  there  must  necessarily  be  mu- 
tual concessions.     A  preponderance  of  advantage  must 


6 

decide  the  utility  of  such  compacts.  If  this  can  be 
gained,  the  exercise  of  doubtful  or  disputed  rights  may 
be  suspended  for  future  discussion  and  arrangement ; 
uiformal  agreements  may  be  substituted  for  permanent 
stipulations,  and  points  of  minor  importance  absolute- 
ly yielded.  An  enlarged  view  of  national  interests 
must  exist  in  the  government,  or  no  treaty  could  ever 
be  made ;  for  if  a  nation  were  to  exact  the  full  measure 
of  its  preconceived  rights  or  interests,  no  other  nation 
could  treat  with  it  on  a  footing  of  equality. 

Great  Britain  claims  a  right  to  the  services  of  its  own 
subjects.  \Ve  cannot  deny  the  justice  of  this,  for  we 
claim  and  exercise  as  a  sovereign  state  the  same  right ; 
so  does  France  ;  and  so  did  everv  civilized  nation  of 
Europe.  It  has  long  been  recognized  as  a  principle 
of  public  law  ;  and  the  decisions  of  the  proper  tribu- 
nals, touching  particular  cases,  have  always  been  go- 
verned by  it.  It  is  as  much  the  law  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  Supreme  Court  have  so  decided,  as  it 
is  in  England,  that  a  man  cannot  divest  himself  of  his 
allegiance.  It  is  not  then  so  much  the  abstract  right, 
as  it  is  the  abuses  connected  with  its  exercise,  which 
furnishes  the  ground  of  complaint.  On  this  point, 
Great  Britain  has  more  than  once  discovered  a  willing- 
ness to  provide  against  future  abuses,  by  such  conces- 
sions and  informal  stipulations,  as  would  have  given  us 
all  the  securitv  which  the  nature  of  the  case  admits. 
The  British  government  proposed  first  to  Mr.  King, 
and  afterwards  to  his  successors,  to  limit  the  exercise 
of  this  right  to  the  narrow  seas,  over  ^vhich  the  right 
of  dominion  has  been  claimed  for  centuries.  And  can 
it  be  expected  that  Great  Britain,  under  any  circum- 
stances, will  ever  formally  abandon  the  mere  right  to 
reclaim  her  own  subjects,  while  her  navy  continues  to 


go- 


b^  the  guardian  of  her  independence  ?  When  the  king 
of  Great  Britain,  with  the  consent  of  his  people,  does 
homage  for  his  crown,  and  consents  to  hold  his  empire 
as  a  fief  of  the  United  States,  this  right  may  be  yielded. 

There  are  intrinsic  difficulties  in  the  case,  for  which 
neither  peace  nor  war,  treaty  or  no  treaty,  can  provide 
a  remedy.  Identity  of  language,  the  resemblance  of 
persons  and  manners,  between  the  subjects  of  the 
two  countries,  will  occasionally  originate  mistakes  with 
the  best  intentions  in  those  who  commit  them.  Na- 
tive Americans  will  sometimes  be  impressed,  either 
through  mistake  or  caprice.  These  impediments  to  a 
good  understanding  necessarily  exist,  but  so  long  as 
they  cannot  justly  be  imputed  to  the  government,  they 
ought  not  to  stand  in  the  way  of  accommodation. 
During  the  administration  of  Washington  they  did 
not ;  for  he  made  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  containing 
no  express  provisions  against  the  abuses  complained  of, 
although  they  then  existed.  He  did  not  deem  it  ex- 
pedient to  reject  a  treaty  because  it  did  not  provide  for 
impossibilities. 

The  high  wages  which  our  late  flourishing  com- 
merce enabled  our  merchants  to  give,  allured  British 
seamen  to  desert ;  and  it  is  notorious  that  thousands  of 
Scotch,  Irish,  and  British  sailors,  with  American  pro- 
tections in  their  pockets,  have  found  profitable  em- 
ployment in  our  service.  Yet  the  reclamation  of  one 
of  these  has  been  recorded  as  the  impressment  of  a  na- 
tive American,  and  made  the  subject  of  much  angry 
declamation.  When  it  is  added  to  this,  that  our  com- 
merce, for  more  than  ten  yeai's,  came  in  contact  with 
the  British  naval  power  in  every  sea,  it  is  extraordina- 
ry that  so  few  bona  fide  Americans  have  been  impress- 
ed.    Of  this  number  Great  Britain  has  never  refused 


V' 


to  restore  one  on  application  accompanied  with  the 
usual  evidence.  If  the  injustice  so  often  charged  upon 
the  government  had  in  fact  existed,  our  vessels  would 
have  been  stripped  of  their  crews,  and  our  commerce 
have  languished  for  want  of  seamen. 

But  let  the  administration  with  its  partizans  exagge- 
rate these  evils  ;  let  them  be  represented  as  so  intolc- 
rable  or  disgraceful  as  to  justify  a  war  ;  a  reply  is  not 
wanting  which,  if  honour  or  shame  had  not  bst  their 
power,  would  silence  them  forever.  Mr.  Munroe  ac- 
tually provided  for  the  security  of  our  seamen,  as  far  as 
it  is  practicable,  by  an  informal  but  honorary  arrange- 
ment in  the  year  1806  ;  but  as  this  did  not,  in  point  of 
form,  constitute  a  part  of  the  treaty,  it  was,  chiefly  for 
this  cause,  indignantly  rejected  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  with- 
out submitting  it  to  the  constitutional  tribunal  of  the 
country.  Yet  the  same  administration  instructed  the 
same  minister,  by  the  very  letter  which  gave  him  no- 
tice of  the  rejection  of  the  treaty,  to  enter  into  informal 
stipulations  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  all  others  confid- 
ed to  his  management.  This  strange  inconsistency, 
this  captious  trifling  with  the  interests  of  the  nation, 
this  irritating  and  perverse  temper,  are  all  chargeable  to 
the  same  administration  which,  from  that  day  to  this, 
have  not  failed  to  make  the  subject  of  impressment  the 
bitter  ingredient  in  all  their  attempts  at  amicable  ad- 
justment. Mr.  Pinkney  was  especially  instructed  to 
connect  it  with  the  atfair  of  the  Chesapeake  ;  and  as 
often  as  other  grounds  of  complaint  have  been  in  dan- 
ger of  being  removed,  this  has  been  inserted  into  the 
discussion  to  make  defeat  certain.  It  is  a  subject 
so  impenetrable,  by  reason  or  argument ;  it  is  so  much 
connected  with,  our  impulses  and  passions ;  it  gives  a 
hostile  adirinistration  so  strong  a  hold  upon  the  public 


feeling ;  that  for  them  to  adjust  it,  on  any  terms,  would 
be  like  stripping  the  combatant  of  his  armour  before 
the  battle  was  finished.  No  ;  so  long  as  the  reclama- 
tion  of  an  English  deserter,  or  the  taking  of  an  Irish, 
man  with  or  without  a  protection,  can  arouse  the  pas- 
sions of  the  multitude ;  so  long  as  the  mistake,  or  wan- 
ton  aggression  of  a  single  officer,  in  the  impressment 
of  an  American  citizen,  can,  without  inquiry,  or  appeal 
to  the  proper  authority,  excite  a  spirit  of  resentment  or 
revenge,  against  the  British  nation,  so  long  will  this 
subject  be  kept  in  reserve  by  the  present  administra- 
tion. 

2.  The  orders  in  council. 

Great  Britain  justifies  these  orders  on  the  ground  of 
retaliation,  and  has  pledged  her  word  to  repeal  them, 
whenever  the  Jet ct  of  the  repeal  of  the  French  decrees 
shall  occur.  The  administration  at  first  contended  that 
though  a  belligerent  had  a  right  to  retaliate  the  injuries 
of  its  enemy  ;  yet  neither  could  lawfully  exercise  this 
right  to  the  injury  of  an  unoffending  neutral.  The 
United  States,  as  a  neutral  nation,  had  a  right  to  pro- 
secute a  lawful  commerce  with  either  or  both  of  the 
parties,  so  long  as  it  preserved  its  neutral  character ; 
and  in  order  to  satisfy  Great  Britain  that  this  character 
had  not  been  violated,  by  submitting  to  the  Berlin  de- 
cree, Mr.  Madison,  then  secretary  of  state,  urged  that 
it  was  merely  a  municipal  regulation,  not  intended  to 
operate  upon  the  citizens  of  this  country,  and  as  such 
afforded  no  justification  of  the  orders.  The  principle 
was  admitted,  though  the  case  it  was  contended  had 
not  occurred  which  would  justify  its  application.  But 
in  this  instance  the  administration  were  egregiously 
mistaken  in  their  facts.  They  gratuitously  assumed  a 
falsehood,  for  the  purpose  of  palliating  the  unexam- 


il' 


1(5 


pled  injuries  of  France.  The  Berlin  decree  did  ope- 
rate upon  us,  in  the  seizure  of  innocent  property  be- 
longing to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  the  then 
neutral  states  of  Hamburgh,  Bremen,  Leghorn,  and  the 
papal  territory.  It  was  executed  wherever  the  power 
or  influence  of  France  was  felt.  It  was  also  executed 
on  the  high  seas  ;  for  Mr.  Madison  himself,  in  a  letter 
to  General  Armstrong  of  the  22d  May,  1807,  six 
months  before  the  issuing  of  the  British  orders,  declar- 
ed that  the  "  French  cruisers  were  enforcing  the  Ber- 
lin decree,  in  a  manner  that  would  constitute  just  claims 
for  redress  :"  And  in  the  September  following,  the 
emperor  himself  declared,  "  that  the  decree  had  no 
exception  in  its  terms,  and  ough^  to  have  none  in  its 
application."  All  this,  and  much  more,  was  known 
and  done  before  the  orders  in  council  issued.  With- 
out spending  an  indignant  word  upon  the  justification 
of  such  municipal  regulations,  as  violated  the  most  im- 
portant  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  1800,  and  became 
another  name  for  sequestration,  while  they  virtually 
made  us,  by  our  acquiescence,  accessary  to  the  decree 
itself,  I  would  merely  remark,  that  the  ground  assum- 
ed by  the  administration  altogether  failing  them,  the 
question  took  an  entire  new  form.  As  the  adminis- 
tration, instead  of  vindicating  the  neutral  rights  of  the 
country,  became  the  passive  instrument  of  injury,  an 
unresisting  medium  through  which  France  could  reach 
her  enemy.  Great  Britain  claimed  the  right  of  return- 
ing the  blow.  One  year  before  this  was  done,  how- 
ever, she  gave  a  formal  notice,  appended  to  the  treaty, 
that  she  reserved  this  right  of  retaliation,  to  be  put  in 
force  only  in  the  event  of  our  submission  to  the  Berlin 
decree.     We  did  submit,  and  retaliation  followed. 


i 


11 


If  the  rights  of  war  do  not  give  to  a  belligerent, 
under  sucii  circumstances,  the  right  of  retaliation,  it 
may  be  deprived  of  its  most  important  means  of  an- 
noyance or  defence,  by  this  partial  interference  of  the 
neutral.  It  would  be  better  for  the  belligerent  at  once 
to  make  an  enemv  of  such  neutral,  than  to  suffer  it- 
self  to  be  handcuffed  under  the  pretence  of  neutrality. 
And  if  a  belligerent  should  be  compelled,  by  a  regard 
to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  war,  to  resort  to  such 
a  measure  against  the  pretended  neutral,  it  would  be 
strictly  a  war  of  defence  :  For,  before  this  could  hap- 
pen, the  neutral  must  have  made  it  for  the  interest  of 
the  belligerent  to  give  the  shape  of  war  to  a  contest  in 
which  all  the  gain  had  been  on  one  side,  and  all  the 
loss  on  the  other.  But  such  a  crisis  could  never  occur, 
unless  the  neutral  had  first  forfeited,  by  its  indirect 
hostility,  the  immunities  of  neutrality. 

I  have  chosen  thus  far  briejy  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion stricti  juris,  without  resorting  to  the  argument, 
which  is  by  itself  conclusive,  arising  from  the  charac- 
ter of  the  enemy,  and  the  peculiar  conduct  of  the  war ; 
the  necessities  which  these  impose,  and  the  measures 
which  they  justify. 

It  was  about  this  time,  that  the  administration  took 
what  was  then  called  its  dignified  stand.  Disdaining 
to  count  the  number  of  their  enemies,  or  to  make  any 
discriminations  of  character,  the  government  mehcd 
them  all  down  into  one  mass,  and  proposed  to  main- 
tain what  was  then  denominated  the  neutral  position  of 
the  country,  by  a  species  of  armed  neutrality.  All 
this  ended  in  some  abstract  resolutions,  and  a  non- in- 
tercourse law  against  Great  Britain  and  France,  in  place 
of  the  embargo,  which  a  suffering  people  would  no 
longer  endure.     This  measure  did  not  succeed  in  con- 


12 


vincing  the  nation  that  the  policy  of  the  administration 
was  either  dignified  or  impartial,  and  was  soon  follow- 
ed by  the  deceitful  arrangement  with  Mr.  Erskine. 
'  Great  Britain  refused  to  ratify  this  adjustment, 
chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  insult  to  the  British  go- 
vernment inserted  in  the  correspondence  by  Mr.  Ma- 
dison himself.  This  important  fact  has  recently  been 
disclosed  ;  and  would  of  itself  have  ensured  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  treaty,  independently  of  its  having  been 
concluded  by  Mr.  Erskine,  not  only  without  autho- 
ritv,  but  in  violation  of  his  instructions. 

Bv  this  time  it  was  discovered  that  Great  Britain 
had  been  the  first  aggressor  upon  our  rights  ;  and  the 
evidence  of  this  w^as  found  in  the  rule  of  the  war  of 
1756.  This  was  declared  bv  Mr.  Adams,  then  a  se- 
nator  of  the  United  States,  to  be  the  "root"  of  ail  the 
infringements  of  our  neutral  rights.  In  the  progress 
of  this  discussion,*  however,  it  was  made  to  appear, 
that,  even  admitting  the  rule  of  the  war  of  1756  to  be 
indefensible  upon  the  strict  principles  of  public  law, 
which  I  do  not,  France,  as  early  as  the  year  1704  and 
1744,  by  various  ordinances,  had  adopted  principles  of 
greater  extent  and  rigour,  and  more  injurious  to  tlie 
rights  of  neutrals.  It  appeared  also  that  Holland  had 
adopted  the  same  course  of  policy,  and  that  all  mari- 
time states,  whenever  the  interests  of  war  should  ren- 
der it  necessary,  would  adopt  similar  principles. 

*  1  allude  particularly  to  the  examination  of  this  question  by  the  writer 
of  the  "  Analysis  of  the  correspondence  between  our  administration  and 
Great  Britain  and  France ;"  a  production  of  singular  merit,  elucidating'  with 
preat  force  and  precision  a  subject  but  imperfectly  understood  before 
There  have  since,  a  number  of  political  pamphlets  issued  from  the  press, 
which  I  am  satisfied,  from  internal  evidence,  are  from  the  same  pen. 
There  is  great  power  in  them  all,  a>.u  what  must  be  gratifying  to  a  disir- 
terestcd  mind,  they  have  had  a  most  extensive  and  decisive  influence 
upon  public  opinion. 


This  topic  too  has  been  abandoned,  and  the  original 
aggression  has  been  found  in  the  famous  British  order 
of  Mav,  1806.  As  this  had  become  the  last  resort  of 
the  administration  and  its  supporters,  I  had  propos'^d 
to  enter  into  a  minute  examination  of  its  origin  and  ef- 
fects ;*  and  I  am  deterred  only  by  an  intimation  in  the 
cabinet  paper,  that  this  order  is  no  longer  an  obstacle 
to  accommodation ;  though  I  have  no  doubt  other  ob- 
stacles will  be  found,  to  prevent  it.  I  cannot  quit  this 
topic,  however,  though  it  is  now  dead,  without  a  re- 
mark upon  the  use  which  the  administration  have  made 
of  it. 

This  order  was  intended,  and  did  in  fact,  remove 
the  ground  of  complaint  urged  by  the  administration 
against  the  rule  adopted  by  Great  Britain  in  relation  to 
the  colonial  trade.  It  was  in  substance  a  relaxation 
of  the  rule  in  our  favour,  permitting  all  but  the  direct 
trade  with  the  enemies  colonies ;  an  indirect  mode  re- 
sorted to  by  Mr.  Fox,  to  avoid  a  formal  abandonment 
of  the  principle,  and  yet  to  give  to  the  United  States 
all  the  advantages  of  such  a  concession.  Mr.  Mun- 
roe  declares  in  his  correspondence  that  he  understood 
it  in  this  light,  and  that  Mr.  Fox  admitted,  that  such 
would  be  its  operation,  though  he  was  unwilling  to 
admit  that  this  was  its  particular  object.  The  admi- 
nistration were  satisfied  with  this  mode  of  quieting 
their  claims,  and  our  citizens  for  some  time  enjoyed 
its  benefits.  Mr.  Madison  continued  to  entertain  the 
same  opinion  of  this  order  so  late  as  the  spring  of  1809, 
when  he  made  his  treacherous  arrangement  with  Mr. 

*  This  has  been  done  in  a  very  able  and  perspicuous  manner  in  a  pam- 
phlet, entitled,  "An  Inquiry  into  the  origin,  nature,  and  object  of  the 
British  Order  in  Council  of  May  16th,  1806;  by  Enos  Bronson,  Esq- ol" 
J'hiludelphia,"  the  well  known  editor  of  tlie  Gazette  of  the  United  Slalcp 


14 


Erskine.  He  then  required  the  repeal  of  the  British 
orders  of  1807,  as  the  only  orders  violating  our  neutral 
rights.  His  authority,  derived  from  the  law  of  Con- 
gress, required  this ;  with  this  he  was  satisfied,  and  in 
his  proclamation  declared  that  all  the  orders  in  council, 
violating  tlie  rights  of  neutral  commerce,  were  abro- 
gated. Mark  well !  In  one  year  after,  this  same  order 
of  1806,  which  had  satisfied  all  our  complaints  on  the 
subject  of  the  colonial  trade,  which  had  been  past  over 
in  silence  in  the  negotiation  with  Mr.  Erskine,  was 
suddenly  brought  to  life  ;  and  from  that  time  forward 
made  a  conspicuous  figure  in  all  the  discussions  of  our 
foreign  relations.  It  was  represented  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  national  law,  of  so  malignant  a  nature  as  al- 
most to  justify  a  crusade  against  Great  Britain,  by  the 
civilized  portion  of  the  world.  It  was  declared  to  be 
an  unexampled  violation  of  neutral  rights,  the  first  in 
the  series  of  aggressions,  the  origin  of  the  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees,  and  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  their 
repeal.  It  was  a  cruel  invention  in  the  business  of 
war,  calculated  to  extend  its  calamities  to  such  as 
were  not  parties  to  the  contest.  It  frustrated  the  ar- 
dent desire  of  his  imperial  majesty  to  do  us  justice,  by 
the  solemn  injunction,  which  his  honour  imposed,  not 
to  repeal  his  decrees,  which  were  retaliatory,  so  long 
as  the  cause  of  them  existed.  There  was  a  wonder- 
ful concert  in  the  language  of  the  American  and  French 
cabinets  on  the  subject  of  this  order.  After  lying  in 
*'  oblivious  night"  for  years,  it  was  suddenly  recalled 
to  a  new  service,  and  the  communications  of  both  cabi- 
nets cotemporaneously  became  vocal  with  it.  Appli- 
cation was  forthwith  made  to  the  British  government ; 
and  when  it  was  ascertained  that  this  order  was  consi- 
dered as  merged  in  a  subsequent  one,  and  would  not 


f 


15 


be  formally  repealed,  it  then  became  the  theme  of  fresh 
declamation,  the  only  impediment  to  the  freedom  of 
the  seas ! 

But  these  topics  which  I  have  briefly  examined  are 
nothing  more  than  the  pretences  for  hostility.  If  the 
pith  of  our  controversy  with  Great  Britain  lay  only  in 
these  causes,  all  irritation  would  soon  subside,  and  a 
just  policy  would  bring  again  the  days  of  prosperity. 
And  this  I  am  persuaded  would  be  accomplished  in 
spite  of  an  administration,  whose  power  is  compound- 
ed of  French  attachment  and  British  hatred,  if  it  was 
not  at  the  same  time  supported  by  the  quick  jealousies, 
sudden  resentments,  unreasonable  expectations,  and 
deeply  rooted  prejudices  of  the  great  body  of  honest 
Americans,  in  relation  to  the  people  and  government 
of  Great  Britain.  The  spirit  of  lofty  pretension,  of 
rigid  exaction,  and  of  rival  animosity,  which  imper- 
ceptibly influences  the  opinions  even  of  such  men,  has 
been  enlisted  into  the  service  of  the  party  now  in  pow- 
er, under  the  various  pretexts  which  the  purposely  un- 
settled state  of  our  relations  with  Great  Britain,  has 
supplied.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  operation  of  such 
causes,  the  present  administration  could  never  have 
jeopardized  the  safety  of  the  country  by  their  slavish 
attachment  to  one  nation,  and  their  hatred  of  another. 
Public  opinion  would  have  compelled  them  to  make 
an  honourable  adjustment  with  Great  Britain,  which 
might  have  been  efiected  at  any  time  ;  or  it  would 
have  driven  them  from  power,  and  filled  their  places 
with  men  of  other  views  and  better  principles.  A 
sounder  policy  would  have  prevailed,  which  would 
have  been  felt  in  again  opening  the  true  sources  of 
prosperity.    Our  national  character  would  not  have 


16 


become  the  scorn  of  slaves,  nor  our  citizens  the  victims 
of  perfidious  rapacity. 

I  do  not  here  address  the  apologists  and  abettors  of 
French  despotism,  the  revilers  of  Great  Britain,  the  ad- 
vocates of  war,  the  traitors  to  the  independence  of  the 
country.  With  such  men  I  will  neither  reason  nor 
expostulate.  But  with  men  who  have  an  interest  in 
the  last  great  question  of  peace  or  war ;  who  are  wil- 
ling to  examine  temperately  our  own  unquestionable 
as  well  as  doubtful  rights ;  who  can  contemplate,  with 
some  just  feeling,  the  present  war  against  the  liberties 
and  virtues  of  mankind ;  who  can  keep  down  their  re- 
sentments, while  they  consider  the  pretensions  of  Great 
Britain,  her  motives,  her  interests,  and  her  dangers  ; 
and  who  can  discern  in  the  policy  of  Bonaparte,  the 
steady  pursuit  of  universal  conquest,  by  the  diabolical 
union  of  fraud  and  force,  of  all  that  is  detestable  with 
all  that  is  terrible....!  would  both  reason  and  expostu- 
late. 

Of  such  men  I  would  inquire  what,  but  the  opera- 
tion of  causes  already  indicated,  has  enabled  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson and  Mr.  Madison  to  persevere  for  years  in  a  de- 
ceptive, irritating,  and  hostile  course  of  policy  towards 
Great  Britain  ?  To  avoid  the  proffered  renewal  of  a 
treaty  which  the  best  interest  of  the  country  demand- 
ed ; — to  reject  the  one  afterwards  concluded,  by  our 
ministers  in  London,  embracing  all  the  points  in  dis- 
pute between  the  two  nations  ; — to  refuse  to  deliver 
up  British  deserters,  when  demanded,  claiming  them 
as  native  Americans  ; — to  defeat  the  solemn  mission 
of  Mr.  Rose,  sent  to  this  country  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  making  honorable  reparation  for  the  unauthorized 
attack  on  the  Chesapeake,  by  a  scrupulous  adherence 
to  a  mere  punctilio,  against  reason  and  usage  ; — to  ca- 


17 


jole  Mr.  Erskine  into  a  delusive  treaty,  knowingly 
made  without  authority,  and  carrying  with  it  an  insult 
inserted  by  Mr.  Madison  himself,  to  ensure  its  rejec- 
tion ;  to  charge  Mr.  Jackson,  another  minister  of  peace 
and  reconciliation,  falsely,  with  offering  an  insult  to 
the  government,  and  by  virtue  of  that  falsehood,  to 
dismiss  him  in  an  unprecedented  manner  ; — to  lay  an 
embargo,  by  sea  and  land,  under  false  pretences,  in- 
tended  to  cripple  her  commerce,  and  to  prostrate  her 
independence  at  the  foot  of  her  implacable  enemy  ; — 
and,  to  hasten  to  the  last  most  atrocious  act  of  the  ad- 
ministration, to  renew  the  non- intercourse  law  against 
her,  without  previous  authority,  assuming,  for  its  basis, 
an  experienced  falsehood,  and  then  requiring  of  Great 
Britain  to  believe  it,  and  forthwith  to  repeal  her  orders, 
or  prepare  to  meet  the  consecjuenees  of  our  just  re- 
sentment!  ! 

The  same  causes  which  have  enabled  tlie  admini- 
stration  to  prevent  a  peace  with  Great  Britain,  have 
also  aided  them  in  preventing  a  war  with  France.  The 
current  of  our  resentments  has  been  diverted  from  its 
true  course,  and  turned  against  the  nation,  from  whose 
character  we  expect  to  receive  the  full  measure  of  our 
rights,  and  whose  immense  naval  power  keeps  all  our 
jealousies  alive,  because  its  abuse  would  be  followed 
by  much  greater  evils  than  we  apprehend  from  France. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  the  sentiment  is  generally  felt, 
that  neither  honour,  justice,  nor  good  faith,  belongs  to 
the  character  of  the  emperor,  a  devoted  administration, 
by  suppressing  or  eviscerating  such  parts  of  the  des- 
patches from  France  as  were  calculated  to  rouse  the 
feelings  of  the  country,  by  a  patient  endurance  of  per- 
fidv.  insult,  and  robbery,  by  humble  supplication  and 

;  systematic  hypocrisy  in  alliance 


gentle 


murmurs, 


18 


Ir' 


with  all  the  arts  of  popular  delusion,  have  been  able  to 
carry  a  nation,  founded  under  the  auspices  of  Wash- 
ington, to  the  foot  of  the  imperial  throne. 

I  need  not  search  far  into  the  records  of  our  humili- 
ation, to  find  the  evidence  of  these  criminations.  With- 
out quoting  a  sentence  from  the  dejected,  spiritless,* 
or  adulatory  communications  of  our  ministers  at  the 
imperial  court,  I  will  merely  select  a  few  sentiments 
from  the  direct  correspondence  of  the  administration. 

In  the  spring  of  1807  they  declared,  that  the  indis- 
criminate seizure  of  our  vessels  in  the  West  Indies, 

•  The  style  of  reception  at  the  imperial  court,  as  well  as  the  spirit  of 
tlie  different  foreign  ministers,  not  excepting  Chancellor  Livingston,  Gen. 
Armstrong,  or  even  Mr.  Barlow,  are  much  the  same  as  they  were  in  1796. 
Substituting  Napoleon  fur  Carnot,  the  following  passages  from  Burke's 
**  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace,'^  have  nearly  as  much  truth  in  their  appU« 
cation  now,  as  they  had  then. 

"  To  tliuse  who  do  not  love  to  contemplate  the  fall  of  human  greatness, 
I  do  not  know  a  more  mortifying  spectacle,  than  to  see  the  assembled 
majesty  o'*  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  waiting  as  patient  suitors  in  the 
antichamber  of  regicide.  At  the  opening  of  these  doors,  what  a  sight  it 
must  be  to  behold  the  plenipotentiaries  of  royal  impotence  in  the  prece- 
dency which  they  will  intrigue  to  obtain,  and  which  will  be  granted  to 
them  according  to  the  seniority  of  their  degradation,  sneaking  into  the 
regicide  presence,  and  with  the  relics  of  the  smile,  which  they  had  dres- 
sed up  for  the  levee  of  their  masters,  still  flickering  on  their  curled  lips, 
presenting  the  faded  remains  of  their  courtly  graces,  to  meet  the  scorn- 
ful, ferocious,  sarcastic  grin  of  a  bloody  ruffian,  who,  while  he  is  receiving 
their  homage,  is  measuring  them  with  his  eye,  8tc. — These  ambassadors 
may  return  as  good  courtiers  as  they  went ;  but  can  they  ever  return  from 
that  degrading  residence  loyal  and  faithful  subjects  ;  or  with  any  true  af- 
fection to  their  master,  or  true  attachment  to  the  constitution,  religion,  or 
.laws  of  their  country?  At  best,  they  will  become  totally  indifierent  to 
good  and  evil,  to  one  institution  or  another.  This  species  of  indifference 
is  but  too  generally  distinguishable  in  those  who  have  been  much  employ- 
ed in  foreign  courts  ;  but  in  the  present  case  the  evil  must  be  aggravated 
without  measure  ;  for  they  go  from  their  country,  not  with  the  pride  of  the 
old  character,  but  in  a  state  of  the  lowest  degradation  ;  and  what  must 
happen  in  their  place  of  residence,  can  have  no  effect  in  raising  them  to 
iJie  level  of  true  dignity,  or  of  chaste  self-estimation,  either  as  men,  or  as 
representatives/'  &c.  £cc. 


under  the  Berlin  decree,  which  violated  the  treaty  with 
France,  and  which  was  issued  in  contempt  of  all  no- 
tions of  national  law,  had  a  tendency  to  do  what  ? — 
"  to  thicken  the  cloud  that  hung  over  the  amity  of  the 
two  nations.''*  The  burning  of  our  ships  on  the  high 
seas,  without  even  the  formality  of  a  decree,  was  gently 
complained  of  as  **  the  most  distressing  of  all  nodes  by 
which  belligerents  exercised  fo'^ce  contrary  to  right. ^* 
The  declaration  of  war  against  Great  Britain,  made  by 
the  emperor  in  our  behalf,  had  merely  **  the  air  of  an 
assumed  authority  ;"  and  the  treacherous  surprise  of 
millions,  under  the  Rambouillet  decree,  was  nothing 
more  than  a  "  misapplication  of  the  law  of  reprisals^ 
combined  with  a  misconstruction  of  our  own  law*'' 
The  tenants  of  the  state  prison  would  strike  a  man  to 
the  ground  with  their  chains,  who  should  attempt  to 
justify  so  perfidious  a  robbery  under  so  shameless  a 
pretence.  Mr.  Madison  knows  as  well  as  any  man 
living,  that  the  Rambouillet  decree  has  no  concern  with 
the  law  of  reprisals,  or  the  misconstruction  of  his  non- 
intercourse  law  ;  nor  has  he  the  least  expectition  that 
this  property  will  ever  be  restored,  though  he  has  the 
hardihood  to  declare  it.  Well  might  the  Due  de  Ca- 
dore  declare  to  the  world,  that  we  were  a  nation  with- 
out "  any  just  political  views,  without  energy,  or  ho- 
nour.'* It  was  an  honest  sentiment  in  the  Due,  and 
much  to  be  commended  for  its  frankness.  And  we 
must  admit  him  to  be  a  competent  judge,  for  the  evi- 
dence of  the  chiU'ge  is  all  in  his  own  custody.  He 
was  ordered  by  his  master  to  make  the  experiments ; 
tind  after  having  faithfully  applied  all  the  instruments  of 
torture  to  the  administration,  the  sensorium  of  the  na- 
tion, he  form?Uy  pronounced  it  to  be  a  mere  caput 
mortuum,  without  sensibility  or  life. 


L^ 


it  IS  worth  the  remark,  that  in  many  communica^ 
tions  of  the  administration,  there  is  in  fact  an  apology 
for  the  injury,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Rambouillet  de- 
cree, where  it  is  gravely  said  to  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try, that  the  whole  evil  originated  in  mistake  :  in  others, 
it  seems  to  be  the  mode  or  style  of  injustice  which 
forms  the  burthen  of  complaint ;  as  in  the  still  conti- 
nued practice  of  burning  merchantmen,  which  has  been 
denominated  the  most  distressing  of  all  modes  of  com- 
mitting injustice  ;  and  in  none  is  there  tlie  least  ap- 
proach towards  that  manly  spirited  tone,  which  either 
justice,  or  the  honour  of  the  country  demanded. 

In  this  last  interval  of  repose,  it  may  be  useful  to 
asiv  whaX  there  is  in  die  present  condition  of  Great  Bri- 
tain to  justify  the  opinion  that  she  is  desirous  of  pro- 
voking a  war  with  the  United  States.  We  behold  her 
engaged  u  ith  an  enemy,  who  solemnly  declares  to  the 
world  that  nothing  short  of  her  destruction  shall  end 
the  conflict ;  an  enemy  nurtured  in  blood,  and  5ed  by 
conquest  ;  whose  genius  is  altogether  military,  and 
who  has  already  bowed  the  greater  part  of  continental 
^Europe  to  his  fell  purpose.  The  nature  of  the  present 
war  is  such,  that  peace  would  be  to  Great  Britain  ano- 
ther name  for  submission.  There  is  literally  no  dis- 
cliarge  in  this  war ;  no  hope,  but  in  her  ability  to  sus- 
tain it.  It  is  a  struggle  for  existence,  requiring  all  her 
strength,  resources,  and  fortitude.  It  is  this  convic- 
tion in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  England,  that  enables 
the  government  to  carry  on  the  war ;  and  it  is  this, 
which  throws  into  it  such  a  spirit  of  fortitude  and  con- 
stancy, such  deeds  of  courage,  such  perilous  but  bril- 
liant achievements,  as  smite  the  heart  of  the  tyrant 
with  dismay- 


21 


For  the  last  five  years,  nothing  has  been  said  of  the 
invasion  of  England.  The  policy  of  Bonaparte  has 
been  to  accomplish  her  destruction  by  the  ruin  of  her 
commerce.  He  considers  her  commerce  as  her  life 
blood ;  and  seems  to  believe  that  if  the  channe]s  of  this 
can  be  stopped,  death  must  ensue.  How  much  truth 
there  is  in  this  opinion,  it  is  not  important  to  inquire  ; 
it  is  enough  to  know  that  all  his  prodigious  efforts  arc 
governed  by  it.  The  continental  system  is  nothing 
but  diis  theory  reduced  to  practice.  He  seems  to  have 
conquered  countries  for  no  other  puq^ose  than  to  make 
them  auxiliary  to  this  scheme  of  destroying  British 
commerce.  The  adoption  of  it  is  required  as  the 
pledge  of  honest  neutrality ;  it  is  exacted  as  the  badge 
of  submission ;  and  if  anv  nation  refuses  to  wear  it,  it  is 
deemed  a  good  cause  of  war,  which  is  never  forgotten, 
though  policy  may  dictate  delay. 

Thus  situated,  can  it  be  believed  that  Great  Britain 
is  disposed  to  provoke  a  war  with  the  United  States. 
Unquestionably  she  is  impelled  by  powerful  motives 
to  maintain  the  relations  of  peace  so  long  as  it  can  be 
done  without  a  stain  upon  her  honour,  or  a  blow  at  her 
vital  interests.  She  cannot  wish  to  add  to  the  number 
of  her  enemies,  while  she  is  grappling  with  one  that 
requires  her  whole  strength.  She  indulges  no  dreams 
of  conquest  ;  she  has  neither  blood  nor  treasure  to 
waste  in  an  unnecessary  war  with  this  country";  but 
she  has  that  to  protect,  which  is  more  important  to 
her  than  either.  ^ 

If  we  turn  to  the  representations  of  the  war  advo- 
cates, we  shall  find  it  often  repeated,  that  Great  Britain 
exists  by  our  forbearance.  We  hold  her  destinies  in 
our  hand.  With  shattered  finances,  increasing  bur- 
thens, disastrous  expeditions,  murmuring  manufactu- 


22 


rers,  and  a  declining  commerce,  it  is  within  the  com- 
pass of  our  energies  to  humble  her  pride,  and  eclipse 
her  glory  for  ever.  And  yet  this  same  nation,  thus 
pressed  on  every  side,  thus  dependent  on  our  good 
will,  is  trampling  upon  our  rights,  and  wantonly  pro- 
voking a  war,  which  must  end  in  her  ruin  !  When  na- 
ture and  experience  contradict  themselves,  such  repre- 
sentations may  gain  credit. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  administration 
have  made  many  bold  experiments  upon  the  spirit  of 
Great  Britain,  in  the  belief  that  she  was  not  in  a  situa- 
tion to  notice  them.  Every  period  in  the  course  of 
her  affairs,  of  real  or  imaginary  depression,  has  been 
the  signal  for  rallying  all  our  complaints,  and  urging 
them  in  the  tone  of  demand.  Whenever  she  has  made 
advances  towards  reconciliation,  the  administration  have 
receded  in  sullen  affectation  of  dignity.  If  she  appear- 
ed anxious  to  settle  subsisting  differences  by  negotia- 
tion, it  was  proof  of  her  weakness,  and  made  the 
occasion  of  some  new  demands :  if  she  omitted  to  do 
this,  it  become  the  evidence  of  her  unfriendly  disposi- 
tion, and  called  for  some  token  of  resentment.  The 
last  experiment,  however,  has  probably  been  made, 
unless  satisfactory  explanations  are  given.  A  gallant 
nation,  like  Great  Britain,  cannot  be  made  desperate 
without  danger.  Honour  is  the  unbought  jewel  of  her 
croAvn.  Unless  this  far-beaming  ornament,  the  polar 
star  of  every  true  Englishman,  can  be  preserved  un- 
sullied, the  war  will  end  in  her  humiliation.  Till  this 
happens,  unprovoked  hostility  will  be  resisted  ;  insult 
will  not  be  endured.  So  long  as  England  stands  forth 
the  champion  of  freedom  and  civilization,  she  must 
maintain  all  tlie  honours  of  her  station.  Her  interest, 
her  policy,  the  success  of  the  cause  in  which  she  is 


• 


23 


engaged,  demand  of  her  every  concession  or  sacrifice, 
whici)  is  coubistent  with  her  truest  rights  and  honour. 
But  to  yield  more  than  this  to  any  nation,  would  be 
evidence  oi  her  inability  to  sustain  the  conflict ;  and  for 
us  to  require  it  would  be  the  evidence  of  unappeasa- 
ble hostility.  In  whatever  shape  then,  or  under  what- 
ever popular  pretences  war  shall  come,  unless  the  prin- 
ciples of  human  conduct  change,  it  must  come,  be- 
cause it  has  been  sought. 

What  is  there,  let  me  inquire,  in  the  general  charac- 
ter or  conduct  of  Great  Britain,  that  endangers  our 
safety.  On  this  subject,  I  am  content  to  hear  all  that 
resentment  or  prejudice  can  allege ;  and  then  to  prove, 
by  an  examination  in  detail,  that  no  other  nation  pos- 
sesses as  much  justice,  honour,  or  virtue,  provided  her 
character  is  not  to  be  decided  bv  the  decree  of  a  vice- 
admiralty  judge,  by  the  aggression  of  a  naval  comman- 
der, or  by  the  morality  of  a  peer  of  the  realm. 

In  the  history  of  wliat  other  nation  can  there  be 
found  such  various  and  well  directed  industry,  such 
punctuality  in  the  fulfilment  of  engagements,  such 
liberality  in  the  common  business  of  life,  so  pure  and 
perfect  an  administration  of  justice,  so  much  respect 
for  public  law,  or  so  much  good  faith  in  the  govern- 
ment ?  These  virtues,  the  causes  and  effects  of  her 
commercial  prosperity,  have  inspired  a  confidence 
which  is  felt  by  the  whole  trading  world.  The  nation 
is  sound  at  heart ;  and  though  many  affect  to  deny  this 
in  words,  they  give  the  best  evidence  of  its  truth  by 
their  conduct.  Great  Britain  is  the  only  nation  that  is 
expected  to  do  justice,  or  to  preserve  good  faith ;  and 
it  is  this  very  expectation  that  excites  irritation  when- 
ever we  imagine  it  is  not  fully  answered.  Her  power 
on  the  ocean  is  and  has  been  for  years  uncontrolled ; 


24 


and  had  it  not  been  directed  by  a  due  regard  to  neutral 
rights,  our  commerce,  second  only  to  her  own,  would 
have  bet  n  annihilated. 

Prejudice  may  rail,  but  there  is  much  to  admire  and 
approve  in  the  character  and  institutions  of  Great  Bri- 
tain.    Her  liberty  is  not  the  worse  for  being  old,  nor 
kss  likely  to  endure.    Instead  of  resting  jirincipally  on 
metaphysical  construction,  or  abstract  theory,  it  has  be- 
.  come  in  a  great  measure  a  matter  of  fact,  which  every 
Englishman  can  comprehend.     He  need  not  labour  to 
understand  a  speech  in  parliament  befoi'e  he  can  decide 
whether  his  essential  rights  are  violated  or  not ;  for  he 
knows  what  his  inheritance  is,  without  such  aids,  and 
the  best  n-eans  of  preserving  it* 
/  ■      The  naval  power  of  Great  Britain  has  always  been 
'  subservient  to  her  commerce,  which  never  could  have 
reached  its  present  L^lght,  if  this  power  had  been  great- 
ly abused.     Her  reputation  in  the  commercial     orld 
.  ha^  been  one  source  of  her  greatness  ;  and  this  could 
not  have  been  preserved  unless  she  had  been  substan- 
tially just.     She  has  never  possessed  the  means  or  the 
spirit  of  conquest  ;  and  she  can  never,  while  she  re- 
mains a  commercial,  become  a  conquering  nation. 

*  •'  In  the  famous  law  of  tlje  3J  Charles  I.  culled  the  Petition  of  Right, 
tV.e  parliament  says  to  the  king,  "  Your  subjects  have  inherited  this  free- 
dom," claiming  their  franchises  not  on  abstract  principles,  "  as  the  rigiits 
of  men,"  but  as  the  rights  of  Englishmen,  and  as  a  patrimony  ci<:;rived 
from  their  forefathers.  Selden  and  tlie  other  profoundly  learned  nicn,\vIio 
di'ew  this  petition  of  riglit,  were  as  well  acquainted  at  least  with  all  the 
general  theories  concerning  •'  the  rights  of  men,"  as  any  of  the  discoursera 
in  our  pulpits  or  on  youi  tribune  ;  full  as  well  as  Dr,  Price,  or  as  the  Abbe 
Seyes.  But  for  reasons  worthy  of  that  practical  wisdom  which  superseded 
tlieir  tlieoretic  science,  they  prcfcried  this  positive,  recorded  hereditary 
title,  to  all  which  can  be  dear  to  the  man  and  the  citizen,  to  that  vague 
speculative  right,  which  exposed  tlicir  sure  inheritance  to  be  scrambled 
for  and  torn  to  pieces  by  every  wild  litigious  spirit  "—-ffj/r^'/*  iicjJeciiav.e 
on  the  Revolution  in  Fiance. 


25 


I 

e. 
a 
c 
(1 

•J' 
e 

a 


There  is  a  deep  sense  of  religious  tniths,  which  per- 
vades the  great  body  of  the  English  people.  The  fruits 
of  this  are  seen  in  the  almost  incredible  number  of  cha- 
ritable institutions  at  home,  and  in  that  benevolent  spi- 
rit which  visits  every  region  of  the  earth  with  the  light 
of  knowledge  and  the  consolations  of  hope.  The  arts 
and  sciences  pay  contribution  to  the  comforts  of  life, 
while  they  sustain  the  order  of  society.  The  moral 
world  is  benefitted  by  those  intellectual  exertions, 
which  are  fostered  and  rewarded  by  the  government. 

A  more  sublime  or  affecting  spectacle  has  never 
been  seen,  than  the  present  war  in  Portugal  and  Spain. 
It  combines  valour  with  disinterestedness  ;  it  is  full  of 
honour  and  glory,  giving  hope  to  the  broken  spirited 
nations  of  the  continent.  It  has  already  done  much  to 
dissipate  their  fears,  by  shewing  them  the  conquering 
legions  of  France,  led  by  their  boasting  generals,  dis- 
graced and  beaten  by  inferior  numbei's.  I  trust  in  an 
over-ruling  Providence,  that  the  banners  under  which 
the  allied  armies  fight,  are  consecrated  by  the  cause 
they  maintain.  'f 

Quitting  a  theme,  inspiring  hope  in  the  breasts  of  all 
the  friends  of  human  happiness,  I  turn  to  the  contem- 
plation of  one  replete  with  shame  and  terror — our  pre- 
sent and  probable  future  relations  with  France ; — of 
shame,  from  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  wrongs, 
which  we  have  tamely  endured ;  and  of  terror,  froni 
the  consequences  which  must  follow  a  British  war. 
No  nation  ever  yet  long  preserved  its  liberties,  that  had 
lost  its  honour.  When  the  seal  of  infamy  is  once  put 
on  a  nation's  character,  the  people  are  either  conquered 
or  betrayed.  If  the  people  of  this  country  are  so  sub- 
dued in  spirit  that  they  are  prepared  to  wear  the  badg<j 
of  the  administration,  the  work  of  subjugation  is  already 


done,  and  all  that  is  to  follow  is  mere  matter  of  form. 
They  may  prepare  an  inventory  of  their  goods  and  chat- 
tels, and  piofFer  their  personal  services  to  the  tyrant^ 
without  waiting  for  the  operation  of  the  conscription^ 
or  the  routine  of  contributions.  Those  who  have  thus 
sunk  to  the  condition  of  slaves,  will  not  be  likely  to 
quarrel  about  the  etiquette  of  their  servitude.  But  if 
the  people  liave  been  deceived  or  betrayed  by  their  own 
rulers ;  if  they  are  willing  to  look  at  their  dangers,  and 
exert  themselves  before  exertions  shall  be  vain ;  they 
may  yet  wrench  the  country  from  the  hands  of  its  spoi- 
lers, wipe  away  its  present  foul  disgrace,  and  retrieve 
its  desperate  fortunes.  A  war  with  Great  Britain  must 
therefore  be  resisted  at  all  hazards.  The  causes  of 
such  a  war  have  alreadv  been  considered ;  the  most 
important  of  its  consequences  will  be  an  alliance  with 
France. 

The  immediate  effects  of  the  war  will  be  felt  in  the 
ruin  of  our  com  lerce — the  friend  of  civilization,  the 
constiint  associate  of  liberty,  the  parent  of  many  vir- 
tues ;  and  in  the  consequent  decline  of  agriculture  : 
they  will  be  felt  in  the  general  consternation,  which  will 
succeed  the  loss  of  credit  and  confidence  ;  in  burthens 
augmented  an  hundred  fold  by  the  destruction  of  the 
regular  revenue,  and  the  necessary  expenditures  of 
war  ;  in  an  increasing  inability  to  support  them,  which 
will  find  no  relief  or  resource  in  that  spirit  which  a 
good  cause  inspires ;  in  the  deterioration  of  the  pub- 
lic morals,  and  the  general  impoverishment  of  the  coun- 
try. These  e'/ils,  necessarily  resulting  from  the  com- 
mencement of  war,  will  fall  most  heavily  on  the  com- 
mercial states,  and  will  be  greatly  augmented  by  the 
criminal  neglect  of  the  administration  to  provide  for  the 
defence  of  the  country.     Still  they  could  be  sustained. 


27 


' 


I 


even  in  an  unnecessary  war,  if  it  did  not  involve  an  al- 
liance with  France. 

An  alliance  with  France !  These  words  fall  like  mol- 
ten lead  upon  my  heart ;  they  excite  unmingled  hor- 
ror ;  they  extinguish  the  last  glimmering  of  hope.  An 
alliance  with  France  carries  with  it  the  foulest  disgrace, 
and  ensures  the  basest  servitude.  The  state  of  Hol- 
land, of  Switzerland,  of  Prussia,  of  Sweden,  and  of  all 
the  Italian  states,  is  the  best  commentary  on  French 
alliance.  It  is  the  wormwood  and  the  gall,  which  the 
wrath  of  heaven  has  mingled  for  the  nations  that  have 
polluted  themselves  with  French  abominations.  Ger- 
many has  at  last  sunk  into  the  rank  of  an  ally.  Russia 
is  permitted  to  pursue  a  half  submission  policy.  The' 
time  is  not  far  distant,  when  she  will  be  compelled  to 
take  her  place  among  the  vassal  states  of  Europe,  or 
make  one  last  effort  to  preserve  her  independence. 
Spain  and  Portugal  have  nobly  preferred  to  grapple 
with  their  invaders,  and  to  take  their  only  chance  of 
future  safety,  to  the  infamy  and  certain  ruin  of  an  alli- 
ance. This  is  the  alternative  which  the  tyrant  offers  ; 
a  co-operation  in  his  ambitious  scheme  of  universal 
despotism,  or  war,  even  to  utter  extermination.  Policy 
may  sometimes  suffer  a  delay,  diat  intrigue  and  cor- 
ruption may  accomplish  then  vork  ;  and  what  they  fail 
to  do,  treachery  and  force  will  finish.  England  is  the 
last  great  obstacle  to  his  gigantic  plan,  and  every  nation 
that  freights  a  vessel,  or  consumes  a  bale  of  cloth,  must 
be  bowed  to  his  pui-pose.  I'here  is  neither  respite 
nor  neutrality  allowed  in  this  work.  Delenda  est  Car^ 
thago — is  the  spring  of  all  his  mighty  movements ; 
its  completion  will  be  the  consummation  of  all  his 
hopes.  A  state  once  brought  to  aid  him  in  this  pio- 
£ct,  is  subdued  to  all  his  present  purposes.     The  pre- 


28 


sent  is  boastingly  called  the  last  Punic  war,  in  a  spirit 
more  fell  than  ever  dwelt  in  a  Roman  bosom.  He  is 
a  studious  imitator  of  Roman  policy  in  the  business  of 
breaking  down  states  that  thwart  his  views,  first  to  the 
rank  of  confederates,  and  afterwards  incorporating  tliem 
into  the  body  of  his  empire  ;  in  dividing  and  beating 
his  enemies  separately,  and  in  all  that  is  imposing,  mag- 
nificent, or  terrible. 

What  is  there,  then,  my  countrymen,  in  the  charac- 
ter or  conduct  of  the  imperial  tyrant,  that  should  tempt 
us  to  become  his  ally  in  a  war  against  Great  Britain  ? 
Is  there  any  consolation  in  the  late  intelligence  from 
France,  that  as  we  have  taken  measures  to  cause  our 
rights  to  be  respected,  he  will  assist  us  f  The  mere 
expression  of  his  good  will  is  portentous ;  it  imports  a 
dreadful  unity  of  purpose,  a  fellowship  of  interest  and 
design  ;  it  is  associated  with  such  awful  forebodings, 
and  such  dire  recollections  ;  it  savours  so  strongly  of 
domestic  treason  against  the  falling  liberties  of  the 
country ;  that  this  single  expression,  truly  felt,  is 
enough  to  collect  horrors  like  a  frost  around  the  heart 
of  every  honest  American. 

Do  we  expect  that  our  commerce  will  thrive  under 
his  patronage,  who  has  publicly  declared  that  he  hates 
commerce  and  all  its  concerns  ;  and  that  he  wishes  to 
see  Europe  reduced  to  the  condition  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury ?  whose  spirit  and  policy  are  wholly  military,  and 
wlio  justly  thinks  that  commerce  is  not  only  hostile  to 
his  system,  but  fatal  to  its  endurance  ?  Can  it  be  ex- 
pected that  he,  who  has  already  crippled  the  commerce 
of  France  ;  who  requires  of  all  his  allies  and  friends,  as 
the  price  of  his  good  will,  tlie  condition  of  his  assis- 
tance, the  interdiction  of  all  commerce  with  Great  Bri- 
tain ;  will  relax  his  iron  system  in  favour  of  a  nation, 


129 


^ 


"^vhich  he  holds  in  merited  contempt  ?  The  administra- 
tion have  never  risen  to  the  dignity  of  any  other  notice 
than  insults  ancbblows.  Under  these  they  have  grown 
docile.  Aslio  art  or  disguise  has  been  found  necessa^ 
ry,  they  have  been  dispensed  with  as  useless ;  and 
broad  noonday  robbery,  public  scourging,  taunts,  and 
threats,  have  been  employed  to  reduce  them  to  the  con- 
tinental system.  Experience  has  satisfied  the  tyrant 
that  his  means  were  well  chosen,  and  well  adapted  to 
the  spirit  of  the  administration.  They  have  at  length 
caused,  their  rights  to  be  respected,  by  the  invasion  of 
the  Spanish  territory  ;  by  the  renewal  of  the  non-im- 
portation  law  against  Great  Britain ;  the  protection  and 
aid  given  to  French  privateers ;  and  above  all,  by  their 
brilliant  achievement  in  the  affair  of  the  Little  Belt ! 
The  emperor  is  satisfied,  and  w  ill  assist  us ! 

Or  is  it  the  tender  regard  which  the  emperor  disco- 
vers for  neutral  rights  on  the  land  or  sea,  that  would 
induce  us  to  seek  his  aid  in  repelling  British  aggres- 
sion ?  This  champion  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas  has 
had  the  frankness  to  declare,  in  substance,  that  until 
England  is  humbled,  he  must  disregard  all  rights 
which  interfere  with  this  pursuit ;  and  that  we  ought, 
as  w^ell  wishers  to  the  repose  of  the  world,  to  be  willing 
to  submit  to  sacrifices,  and  to  endure  wrongs,  for  the 
advancement  of  that  happy  state,  when  his  will  shall  be 
the  rule  of  universal  obedience. 

It  is  overwhelming  to  reflect  upon  the  progress  al- 
ready made  by  one  man,  towards  the  attainment  of 
what  was  once  considered  chimerical — a  universal  mo- 
narchy ;  and  this  too  without  affecting  much  conceal- 
ment of  his  object,  or  hardly  stooping  to  employ  plau- 
sible pretences.  He  has  hunted  liberty  as  his  natural 
game,  dcchiring  himself  to  be  itr,  protector  ;  he  has 


30 


w 


brought  nations  to  aid  in  their  own  destruction,  by 
joining  in  the  war  against  England,  in  order  that  he 
may  establish  the  liberty  of  the  seas„when  her  ruin 
shall  be  accomplished ;  he  lias  violated  the  obligations 
of  treaties,  trampled  on  the  rights  of  justice  and  huma- 
nity, to  give  salutary  lessons  to  the  refractory  or  rebel- 
lious ;  he  has  provoked  wars,  and  conquered  countries, 
for  the  repose  of  the  continent;  he  has  perpetrated  thefts 
and  robberies,  in  order  to  restore  the  lost  sense  of  obli- 
gation ;  he  has  committed  old  crimes  with  new  aggra- 
vations, and  enlarged  the  boundary  of  human  depra- 
vity by  the  commission  of  new  ones ;  he  has  bowed 
the  lofty  spirit,  the  independent  mind,  and  compelled 
it  to  lend  its  energies  to  corrupt  the  rising  generation 
in  France  with  the  maxims  of  despotism,  to  exclude 
the  light  of  freedom  and  the  beam  of  hope,  and  to  cloud 
the  intellectual  vision  with  gloom  and  despair.* 

In  France,  the  press  is  a  tremendous  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  the  tyrant,  and  a  most  fearful  supporter  of 
his  power.  Through  this  channel  he  has  exclusive 
access  to  the  public  mind  ;  and  pours  into  it  those 
systematic  falsehoods,  which  fill  every  public  commu- 
nication, from  the  throne  to  the  humblest  officer  of 
the  empire ;  those  adulatory  effusions,  bordering  on 
idolatry,  which  tend  to  enervate  and  corrupt  the  best 
feelings  ;  and  those  detestable  lessons  of  despotism 
which  help  to  rivet  upon  the  minds  as  well  as  bodies  of 

•  The  lifted  axe,  the  agonizing-  wheel, 
Luke's  iron  crown,  and  Dainien's  bed  of  steel. 
To  men  remote  from  power,  but  rarely  known, 
Leave  reason,  faith,  and  conscience  all  our  own. 

When  these  line-  were  written,  the  imagination  of  the  poet  had  never 
conceived  of  that  refined  and  diffusive  despotism  which  has  since  been 
established  in  France.  The  present  organization  of  religion,  of  the  press, 
of  the  internal  police,  and  of  the  conscription,  would  furnish  images  to 
poetry  more  terrific  than  the  history  of  ancient  tyranny  has  yieldcfl. 


31 


men  the  most  debasing  servitude.  The  press,  under 
its  present  organization  in  France,  instead  of  being  the 
friend,  is  the  enemy  of  liberty  and  truth,  the  scourge 
of  virtue,  and  will  be  the  curse  of  posterity.  Already 
the  productions  of  artists  and  learned  men  in  France  are 
tainted  with  the  influence  of  despotism.  The  mind  is 
in  bondage,  and  patronage,  however  liberal,  cannot 
make  it  free.  The  learned  bodies  are  all  governed  by 
the  tyrant,  and  all  their  labours  are  directed  to  the  per- 
petuity of  his  dominion.  Eulogies,  complimentary 
poems,  elementary  works  for  schools,  and  political  ca- 
techisms may  thrive,  but  nothing  higher  or  nobler  can 
be  expected.  The  great  men  who  survived  the  revo- 
lution have  fallen  into  the  diiferent  classes  of  the  na- 
tional institute,  and  submitted  their  faculties  to  the  drill 
of  a  master.  The  eloquent  Maury,  the  intrepid  defen- 
der of  the  altar  and  throne  in  the  early  stages  of  the  re- 
volution, has  returned  ftom  exile,  to  compose  panegy- 
rics upon  the  illustrious  family* of  the  Bonapartes  ;* 
and  David,  the  ferocious  jacobin  under  Robespierre, 
now  embodies  the  visions  of  his  imagination  to  grace 

*  See  Mr.  Walsh's  Letters  on  France  and  England,  published  in  his 
Review,  &c.  I  cannot  forbear  to  express  my  admiration  of  tliis  gentle- 
man's talents,  and  of  the  noble  purposes  to  which  he  devotes  them.  Per- 
haps no  public  writer  ever  made  so  strong  an  impression  on  the  public 
mind.  His  first  publication,  the  "  Letter  on  the  genius  and  disposition 
of  the  French  government,"  was  read  with  deep  interest.  It  is  a  beauti- 
ful specimen  of  correct  reasoning,  in  a  style  of  pure  and  manly  eloquence  ; 
but  above  all,  there  is  in  it  a  tone  of  earnestness,  and  exactness  in  the  state- 
ments of  many  new  and  important  facts  ;  a  spirit  of  benevolent  anxiety  for 
the  welfare  of  his  country,  and  a  thorough  comprehension  of  its  interests 
and  dangers,  which  excite  as  much  interest  as  admiration.  The  subse- 
quent numbers  of  his  Review  have  rather  confirmed,  than  weakened,  the 
high  opinion  which  his  first  work  gave  rise  to.  They  display  all  the  attri- 
butes of  a  fine  scholar  ;  all  tl)e  qualifications  of  a  profound  statesman  ; 
and  all  the  disinterested  ardour  of  a  patriot ;  such  as  Washington,  and 
Hamilton,  and  Ames,  could  approve  and  admire. 


32 


the  habitation  of  his  imperial  master.  Codes  civil  antl 
criminal  have  been  compiled,  which  afford  no  protec- 
tion to  innocence  or  private  right ;  and  great  efforts 
have  been  made  to  throw  the  splendors  of  learning, 
arts,  and  jurisprudence,  around  the  throne  ;  but  it  docs 
not  require  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  foretell,  that  what- 
ever is  unconnected  with  the  business  of  war,  or  does 
not  in  some  way  minister  to  the  pleasures  of  a  corrupt 
court,  will  ultimately  decline.* 

*  A  work  has  lately  been  ptiblisliecl  in  France,  under  the  patronagp 
of  the  government,  entitled,  "  Sur  la  Souverainete,"  by  M,  I.  Chas.  The 
editors  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  in  their  remarks  upc.i  it  observe  tliat 
it  "  contains  a  panegyric,  a  professed  panegyric  on  despotism  ; — a  com- 
parison of  this  simple  form  of  government  with  all  other  forms,  whe- 
tlier  simple  or  mixed — and  in  particular  with  that  mixed  form,  which 
is  exemplified  in  Great  Britain  ;  and  a  distinct  deliberate  raisonne  prefer- 
ence over  them  all.  If  Bonaparte  has  hitherto  played  the  hypocrite,  it 
must  be  allowed  that  his  agents  now  speak  plain.  He  probably  thinks  the 
time  is  at  last  come,  when  boldness  is  better  than  imposture  ;  and  it  can- 
not, at  any  rate,  be  insinuated,  that  he  is  afraid  to  avow  his  purposes.  If 
impudence  were  a  term  which  could  apply  to  persons  in  situations  so 
exalted,  we  should  say  that  this,  taken  with  all  its  circumstances,  is  the 
most  impudent  address  which  any  government  ever  ventured  upon  offer- 
ing to  its  subjects.  How  low  must  a  nation,  which  had  once  dared  to  lift 
its  eyes  to  liberty,  be  degraded,  before  its  government  could  venture  to 
present  it  with  a  creed  like  this !  How  prodigiously  did  the  first  ef- 
forts of  the  French  to  acquire  for  themselves  a  good  government,  lead 
the  world  in  general  to  overrate  the  true  character  of  that  nation  ! 
With  the  single  exception  of  courage  and  military  skill,  the  commonest 
and  cheapest  qualities  of  human  nature,  they  have  exhibited  nothing  but 
what  is  vulgar  in  point  of  conception,  and  servile  in  point  of  spirit,  through 
the  whole  course  of  their  revolution.  Hardly  had  it  begun,  when  some 
hired  ruffians  in  the  metropolis  were  allowed  to  give  law  to  the  whole 
nation.  How  tamely  after  this  did  they  bend  their  necks  to  the  stroke  of 
an  exterminating  tyrant,  supported  by  a  party  already  miserable  both  in 
numbers  and  in  reputation. — Robespierre  and  the  Jacobins  !  With  wliat 
base  submissiveness  did  they  again  deliver  themselves  up  to  tlie  misgo- 
vernment  of  a  factious  and  arbitrary  Directory  !  How  lightly  did  they 
permit  themselves  to  be  transferred  into  the  bonds  of  the  consulate  ; 
and  with  what  quiet  obedience  have  they  submitted  to  every  encroach- 
ment 0^  Bonaparte— till  despotic  power  is  at  last  not  only  consummated. 


13 


^ 


This  blasting  influence  is  coextensive  with  the  power 
of  the  tyrant.  All  the  countries  of  Europe,  once  the  abode 
of  tranquillity  and  comfort,  over  which  he  now  exercises 
control,  have  felt  it.  Credit,  commerce,  industry,  the 
social  virtues  that  adorn  life,  and  the  fortitude  that  sus- 
tains its  burthens  ;  all  that  wisdom  has  devised  to  se- 
cure the  order  of  society,  all  that  beneficence  has  exe- 
cuted to  mitigate  calamity,  even  the  face  of  nature  it- 
self— all  wither  and  die  beneath  his  baleful  influence. 
The  charms  of  refined  taste,  the  lustre  of  cultured  life, 
the  hopes  that  yield  present  bliss,  and  the  dreams  of 
future  good,  all  fade  at  his  approach ;  desolation,  gloom, 
amazement,  sorrow,  and  despair,  follow  in  his  train. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  interpret  "  diirk  sentences,"  or 
apply  the  sure  word  of  prophecy  to  the  existing  state 
of  France,  or  the  passing  events  of  the  times.  Without 
resorting  to  considerations  of  such  awful  import,  there 
is  something  in  the  thought  of  an  alliance  with  France, 

but  openly  proclaimed,  and  held  up  to  the  nation,  as  an  object  upon  which, 
to  plume  themselves,  and  to  despise  their  neighbours  " 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  this  work  by  Cbas,  to  those  who  do 
not  read  the  Edinburgh  Review,  the  following  summary  of  the  French 
constitution  is  extracted. 

•'  Telle  est  I'institution  et  la  nature  du  gouvernement  Frar^ais.  L'Em* 
pereur  exerce  seul  la  plenitude  de  la  souverainetc,  com  me  le  representant 
hereditaire  de  ;;-  nation,  comme  pouvoir  constituant ;  comme  pouvoir  ad- 
mlnistratif ;  il  est  legislateur  et  executeur  supreme  des  lois  ;  il  est  I'ame 
du  gouvernement ;  il  met  en  activite  tous  les  parties  de  la  constitution  ; 
c'est  lui  qui  propose  les  lois  constitutives,  les  lois  civiles  et  administra- 
tives  :  il  fait  de  reglemens  ;  crce  des  institutions  sociales  ;  commande  les 
armees  ;  declare  la  guerre ;  fait  la  paix  ;  conclut  les  traitt^s  de  commerce  ; 
et  d'  alliance  ;  nomme  d  tous  les  emplois  civils,  militaires  et  religieux  : 
c'est  en  son  nom  que  les  lois  sont  proclamces,  et  que  la  justice  est  rendue 
dans  tous  les  tribunaux.  ..  •■»ersonne  est  sacrte  ct  inviolable  ;  son  efli- 
«'ie  est  grav^e  sur  les  monnoics  ,  il  a  le  droit  de  faire  grace,  et  de  commu- 
er  les  peines.  Les  mcmbrcs  du  corps  Icgislatif  sont  scs  sujcts  ;  tous  les 
citoyens  lui  doivcnt  respect  et  obeissance.  11  n'a  au-dessus  de  lui  que 
Dicu  et  laloi.  Tous  ces  droits,  tous  ces  prerogatives  constituent  la  veri- 
table souverainetc  ;  il  I'exerce  dans  toutc  sa  plenitude,  et  dans  toute  sou 
iiitcgritc,  sans  postage,  ct  sans  division  " 

¥, 


34 


repulsive  to  a  moral  mind.  No  man  who  considers 
the  present  military  power  of  France,  the  means  it  em- 
ploys, and  the  objects  it  pursues,  if  he  believe  in  the 
moral  government  of  the  Being,  who 

*•  Wheels  his  throne  upon  the  rolling  worlds," 

can  contemplate  such  an  event  without  (I  quote  the 
sentiment  with  awe)  "  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment."  It  seems  to  be  bidding  a  final  adieu  to 
all  that  makes  life  a  blessing ;  and  soliciting  the  ven- 
geance of  heaven  upon  ourselves  and  our  children.  It 
is  tiiking  up  our  residence  in  Sodom,  soon  to  be  visit- 
ed in  anger,  instead  of  flying  from  its  destruction. 
There  is  not  less  infatuation  than  peril  in  such  a  con- 
nection ;  and  when  it  shall  have  accomplished  its  ten- 
dencies, it  will  stfnd  among  the  recorded  wonders  of 
history,  as  much  the  monument  of  our  i^ramy,  as  the 
"  grave  stone  of  our  liberties." 

We  appear,  as  a  people,  to  be  under  the  same  ma- 
lignant spel'  which  bound  the  nations  of  Europe  to 
their  own  sad  tate.  There  is  an  apathy  in  the  public 
feeling  on  the  subject  of  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  a 
reluctance  to  admit  the  necessary  consequences  of  such 
a  war  ;  a  disposition  to  hope  all  things  against  all  hope, 
as  almost  to  justify  the  belief  that  we  are  already  too 
spiritless  to  make  one  effort  to  save  ourselves  from 
threatened  bondage,  or  too  corrupt  to  desire  it.  The  ruin 
that  has  awaited  al)  those  countries,  which  have  been 
corrupted,  and  at  last  brought  under  the  power  of 
France,  is  apparently  known  only  to  be  disregarded. 
Experience,  though  still  inculcating  her  lessons  with 
whips  of  scorpions,  is  no  longer  regarded  as  an  instruc- 
tei  All  sensibility  to  our  dangers  seems  to  be  dead, 
reason  has  lost  its  power,  and  truth  its  authority.  We 
7Tsiga  ourselves  in  listless  indolence  to  the  manage- 


35 


ment  of  an  administration,*  whose  power  has  no  foun- 
dation in  the  real  interests  or  virtues  of  the  country. 

1  might  iiere  repeat  the  question,  which  no  one  can 
answer ; — wliat  is  to  be  gained  by  even  a  successful 
war  against  Great  Britain  ?  If  there  is  any  truth  in  the 
preceding  remarks,  she  is  neither  able  nor  disposed  to 
engage  in  a  war  for  any  thing  short  of  her  essential 
rigiits.  If  it  is  admitted  tliat  we  can  compel  her  to 
yield  these,  by  the  aid  of  her  enemy,  we  make  our  own 
ruin  sure.  Does  this  brighten  our  future  prospects  ? 
There  are  few  intelligent  men  at  the  present  day  of  any 
party,  who  do  not  admit,  that  the  fall  of  British  inde- 
pendence would  destroy  all  hope  of  maintaining  our 
own.f     My  heart  is  full  of  this  subject,  but  I  must 

*  "  Quicquid  delirant  reges  plectuntur  Achivi."  This  sentiment  of  the 
poet  is  as  truly  descriptive  of  an  elective  government  as  of  any  other. 
A  president  may  inflict  as  severe  sufferings  upon  a  people  as  a  mo- 
narch.   The  only  difTerence  seems  to  be  in  the  mode. 

t  "  If  Britain  fails  in  fighting  our  battles,  we  must  fight  our  own  ;  and 
what  law  of  sound  policy  or  true  wisdom  is  there,  that  should  choose  to 
fight  them  unassisted  and  alone  ?  We  do  not  say  that  the  time  has  come — 
heaven  forbid  it  should  ;  but  it  may  come,  and  that  speedily,  when  the  op- 
position to  a  British  alliance  would  be  treason  against  American  indepen- 
dence. Let  French  emissaries  cavil,  but  let  Americans  ponder."  Such 
was  the  sentiment  of  Ames  in  the  year  1806.  What  would  have  been  his 
sentiments  if  he  had  lived  to  witness  the  present  state  of  the  country, 
on  the  eve  of  a  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  of  an  alliance  with  her 
enemy.  But  he  has  been  taken  from  the  evil  which  was  to  come  ;  and 
cu.v.iy  a  purer  spirit  never  fled  from  earth  to  heaven  ;  nor  has  a  brigh- 
ter intelligence  ever  beamed  upon  this  nether  world.  Yet  this  man,  so 
pure  and  disintf.rested  that  he  seemed  to  have  been  sanclitied  and  set 
apart  to  the  service  of  his  country,  has  not  been  suffered  to  rest  in  peace. 
His  political  character,  and  even  his  motives,  have  been  assailed  with 
great  bitterness  by  the  Hon.  John  Q.  Adams,  under  the  pretence  of  a  review. 

And  was  not  this  a  becoming  labour,  let  me  ask,  for  Mr.  Adams  ?  for  a 
man  whose  sordid  mind  is  utterly  incapable  of  even  comprehending  the 
character  of  Ames  ?  and  whose  political  principles  have  noother  foundation 
than  his  private  interest ;  a  man  to  be  purchased  in  the  market,  like  any 
other  commodity,  and  whose  malignant  pa.ssions  fit  him  for  the  service  of 
an  administration,  deriving  its  support  from  the  passions  and  the  vices  of  the 
country.  If  in  the  times  of  trouble  wliich  await  us,  the  passions  of  this 
man  shall  make  him  conspicuous  enough,  to  induce  tlie  historian  to 
transmit  the  history  of  his    life,  in,,  nf^anncss   and  his  malignity  will 


36 

desist.  This  then  is  the  rallying  point  of  patriotism  ; 
I  use  this  word  in  its  original  sense  ;*  the  sentiment 
that  ought  to  govern  every  pen,  and  animate  every 
heart — save  the  country  from  a  British  war,  or  all  islost.-j- 

want  no  other  illustration  than  his  attack  upon  the  memory  of  Ames. 
The  jackal!  has  preyed  upon  the  dead  lion.     Let  it  be  so. 

1  know  that  this  is  harsh  language  to  apply  to  any  man  claiming  the  rank 
and  feelings  of  a  gentleman  ;  but  the  occasion  justifies  it ;  and  may  "my 
right  hand  forget  its  cunning,"  if  it  ever  refuses  to  vindicate  the  cha« 
racter  of  Fisher  Ames. 

"  I  am  worse  than  a  lingerer  in  my  faith,"  as  to  the  political  integrity  or 
talents  of  Mr.  Adams.  His  employment,  by  the  present  administration,  un- 
der all  circumstances,  is  good  proof  of  the  one  ;  and  his  '*  Lectures  on 
Rhetoric  and  Oratory,"  a  book  of  common  learning,  written  in  a  deprav- 
ed taste,  of  the  other. 

*  Few  men  in  any  country  ever  had  higher  or  juster  claims  to  the  dig- 
nified character  of  a  patriot,  than  Col.  Pickering.     The  numbers  now  pub- 
lishing with  his  name,  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  are  full 
of  instruction.  They  are  written  with  great  perspicuity,  adapted  to  the  times, 
and  are  calculated  to  be  extensively  useful.  Independent  of  the  many  impor- 
t.int  facts  already  disclosed,  which  were  known  to  very  few  ;  of  the  rea- 
sonings and  admonitions,  the  result  of  wisdom  and  experience,which  these 
addresses  contain  ;  they  have  an  authority  which  few  political  writings 
possess  : — the  authority  of  experience,  of  long  and  faithful  service,  and  of 
an  unspotted  life.    The  answer  he  gives  to  the  slanders  of  his  en.   "'^s,  is 
a  challenge  to  examine  his  private  as  well  as  his  public  life.     "'Vhat  man 
among  his  accusers,  dares  to  make  such  an  offer. 
f  Perhaps  there  has  never  been  a  period  in  the  affairs  of  the  country ,which 
had  such  strong  claims  upon  the  exertions  of  its  friends  as  the  present. 
Much  is  done  by  men  whose  business  it  is  to  enlighten  public  opinion,  I 
mean  the  Editors  of  federal  newspapers.    Many  of  these  papers,  such  as 
the  New  York  Evening  Post,  tlie  Federal  Republican,  the  Gazette  of  the 
United  States,  the  Connecticut  Mirror,  The  Repertory,  Centinel,  and  many 
others,  are  conducted  with  great  intelligence  and  abiUty.    I  know  the  edi- 
tors are  poorly  rewarded.    The  same  talents  and  industry  which  are  be- 
stowed upon  many  of  these  journals,  would  accumulate  a  fortune,  if  em- 
ployed in  other  pursuits.   But  there  is  a  sort  of  reward  withheld  from  some 
of  them, 'Which  is  very  proper  to  give,  because,  in  truth,  the  donor  receives 
full  value  for  the  same  ;  and  it  is  very  pleasant  to  receive,  because  it  con- 
fers no  obligation — /  viean  the  business  of  advertising.     The  federal  mer- . 
chants  who  neglect  to  advertise  in  political  papers,  because  some  other  pa- 
per of  no  political  character,  or  a  bad  one,  has  more  advertisements  in  its 
columns,  have  very  limited  notions  of  their  own  interests.    They  are  little 
aware,  how  much  the  value  of  the  merchandise,  they  advertise  exclusively^ 
in  some  neutral  or  stupid  vehicle,  depends  on  the  labours  of  men,  who  are 
permitted  to  pursue  their  toll  unrewarded  by  this  cheapest  and  best  mode 
of  patronage. 


DATE    DUE 

A  fine  of  Ave  cents  will  be  chargred  for  each 
day  overdue. 


